A great variety of ways to clean lavatory bowls, such as toilet bowls, has been described in the art. One particular way of cleaning lavatory bowls, such as toilet bowls, are so called rim-blocks. Indeed, rim-blocks are devices that dispense liquid or dissolved solid compositions into a lavatory bowl from under the rim of said bowl. Such rim-blocks are usually attached by various means, such as hooks and the like, to the rim of the lavatory bowl. Rim-blocks dispensing at least one liquid composition into the lavatory bowl, so called “liquid rim-blocks”, are preferred over rim-blocks dispensing a dissolved solid composition. This is due to the fact that firstly, solid rim-blocks tend to exhibit a far greater variation in the amount of product dispensed into the flush during their lifetime. It has been observed that towards the end of the solid rim-block lifetime, the solid composition therein tends to dramatically reduce in size and also in surface area open to the flush water thereby limiting the amount of dispensed/dissolved product. Secondly, the solid rim-block can become highly unsightly during use. Thirdly, the air freshening capability of solid rim-blocks tends to be inferior as compared to liquid rim-blocks as the release of perfume from a solid composition tends to be lower than from a liquid composition.
In addition to the cleaning benefit provided by liquid rim-blocks, it is desirable that liquid rim-blocks provide fragrance (i.e., perfume and/or deodorant) delivery into the bathroom/toilet room atmosphere. Therefore, liquid rim-blocks dispensing a liquid, perfumed composition, providing at least some perfume delivery were developed and are disclosed in the art. Indeed, for example, EP-A-0 538 957 describes a bottle holding a liquid composition upturned within a cage that is hung using a hook inside the toilet rim. In use, the liquid composition flows continuously from the bottle into a “porous mass” that both distributes the product into the flush water as well as exposing a large surface area of the product to the environment for air freshening.
However, a known drawback of the liquid rim-blocks described in the art, is their still insufficient performance with regard to fragrance delivery into the bathroom atmosphere. Indeed, it has been found by consumer research that consumers are looking for liquid rim-blocks that provide a combination of ongoing fragrance delivery into the bathroom atmosphere with a perfume boost into the bathroom atmosphere upon flushing of the lavatory bowl.
Liquid rim-blocks that continuously release a liquid composition from a container into a cage are for example described in EP-A-0 538 957, U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,564 and WO 00/42261. Such continuous release rim-blocks may create some degree of ongoing perfume delivery into the bathroom atmosphere since this liquid composition can release a perfume, if present in the composition, into the air. Furthermore, other forms of continuous perfume release are for example described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,709,425, 3,359,063 or GB 918,218. However, such continuous release rim-blocks or other continuous perfume release devices fail to provide a perfume boost into the bathroom atmosphere upon flushing of the lavatory bowl. In addition, the continuous release rim-blocks often exhibit liquid leakage into the lavatory bowl, especially if the lavatory bowl is not used on a regular basis. This results in product unsightly coating the lavatory bowl surface. In addition, this continuous leakage can result in the premature emptying of the liquid bottle.
Furthermore, liquid rim-blocks that dispense a liquid composition from a container only during the flush are for example described in WO 01/06067, EP 10072728 and WO 01/02653. Such rim-blocks that dispense a liquid composition only during the flush may provide a perfume boost into the bathroom atmosphere upon flushing of the lavatory bowl, provided a perfume is present in the liquid composition dispensed during the flush. However, the perfume boost into the bathroom atmosphere upon flushing of the lavatory bowl is limited, as there is insufficient time to allow the product to evaporate thereby creating the perfume boost. Furthermore, such rim-blocks that dispense a liquid composition only during the flush fail to provide an ongoing perfume delivery into the bathroom atmosphere.
In addition, liquid rim-blocks that dispense a liquid composition after the flush are for example described in WO 01/88286 and EP-A-1 046 756. Such liquid rim-blocks that dispense a liquid composition after the flush do eventually provide a perfume boost into the bathroom atmosphere upon flushing of the lavatory bowl, provided a perfume is present in the liquid composition dispensed during the flush. Indeed, the liquid composition can release perfume before the next flush. However, it has been found that the amount of liquid composition and therefore perfume that is released by such rim-blocks is small and quickly evaporates providing air freshening only for a very limited time period, such as 1 to 2 hours, after the flush. Therefore, this fails to provide an ongoing perfume delivery into the bathroom atmosphere.
In view of the above, it is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a liquid rim-block that provides a combination of ongoing fragrance (i.e., perfume and/or deodorant) delivery into the bathroom atmosphere with a perfume boost into the bathroom atmosphere upon flushing of the lavatory bowl.
It has now been found that the above objective can be met by a lavatory bowl rim-block according to the present invention.